Earlier this month, at the entrance of Battery Park, I met Marta, a tourist from Spain. I saw this tattoo on her back and asked if she would share it. She graciously agreed.Marta described this as a “floral crown,” with the phrase “I will sustain you” within.Marta told me that …

Earlier this week, I was in Rochester for business and, while grabbing breakfast at a cafe in an office park, I noticed one of the employees had some knuckle tattoos. I introduced myself to Christina and she happily shared her ink:Chrstina, explained that these are, in part, in memory of her ex-boyfriend, who passed away.She told me, “We’re all ticking time bombs and he’s my diamond in the sky.”And…

This post is dedicated to the folks who shared, told me about their tattoos, but the recordings were lost before I could transcribe them. Perhaps they’ll come looking for their posts and fill in the blanks some day in the future.First up is this compass rose from Eli, who I met in August 2015 in Owl’s Head Park in Brooklyn:Eli’s friend Noah shared this pillar:A couple weeks later, in Times Square, I met Doug, who shared…